Veteran maverick of English theatre, Ken Campbell, died in his home aged 66 on Sunday 31st August, mere days after appearing to sell-out crowds in Showstopper, an improvised musical at the Edinburgh Festival.
I only had the pleasure of meeting Ken twice, both times at performances of his experimental improv company The School Of Night. He struck me as a fiercely intelligent man with uncompromising standards who was more than a little crazy to boot. Having not known him well, I see the effects of his passing in the faces of my friends who did, and in the respect of a great many talented and wonderful people. Ken was a fiend for improv, breaking boundaries and trying new concepts out with abandon and enthusiasm, seemingly driven to keep pushing the artform into pastures new.
The Guardian probably put it better here and here; they are, after all, paid for this sort of thing.
Campbell once explained "I'm not mad, I've just read different books." Which one hopes he's continuing to do, whilst confounding and delighting the establishment of a higher plane.
Ken Campbell, ladies and gentlemen.
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